


It Was Your Heart on the Line

by mademoisellePlume



Series: Tomorrow I’ll Switch the Beat [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Blood, Full Clockwork Orange, Gen, Graphic Description, Hunk is kidnapped, Mind the Tags, Nightmare Fuel, Nonbinary Pidge | Katie Holt, Torture, Violence, Vivisection, Vomit, unnamed character death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-08
Updated: 2016-11-22
Packaged: 2018-08-13 20:00:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7984318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mademoisellePlume/pseuds/mademoisellePlume
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hunk has been captured by the Galra - and the Paladins are going to get him back.</p><p>or</p><p>Home movies really aren't what they used to be.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> As with everything in this series, MIND THE TAGS.

 Things had been bad before, but rarely this bad. The Castle of Lions wasn’t running from the fight - the fight was running from it.

The commander of this ship, Eldek, was content with having stolen a single Paladin, even if he didn’t get the lion that went with it. The Paladins had already proven their sentimentality - they would give chase for this one.

When they recovered. 

Shiro carried each one of the other Paladins out of their lions and into a cryopod, one by one.

First Lance, who had taken so much damage for others after one of their own was captured that he’d been dislodged from his seat in the Blue Lion and hit his head hard enough to knock him out.

Then Pidge, who had been stabbed in their shoulder when retreating from the Galra ship they’d been hacking, barely managing to get back into their lion.

Finally, Keith, who’d gone in headfirst and gotten seven kinds of shit kicked out of him.

Shiro can barely breathe once he has delivered Keith into a cryopod. Hunk had been taken. They’d gone in to steal information, the Galra had ambushed them, and then Hunk had pushed through the battle to successfully lure the Galra away from Keith and Pidge. And then he’d been overwhelmed.

Shiro had towed the yellow lion away and intended to go back to get Hunk right away, but the Galra ship had left before he could.

“Shiro, I know it’s awful, but we need to let the children heal, then go after Hunk together. You’re hurt too, why don’t you go in a cryopod, and we’ll plan what to do next once your hand is better and you’re not… um… Breathing like that. Is that normal for humans? You don’t, usually.” Allura is nervous and clearly upset as well.

Shiro finds a friendly smile in him somewhere, but it doesn’t sit on his face as well as it usually does. “I’ve got to do something first, then I’ll get in a pod. Can you try and get Coran to make some food for the kids when they wake up, and do what you can to track the ship?”

Allura nods and touches his shoulder gently. “Okay. I’ll go do that now, but I want to see you in a pod in the next 4000 ticks.”

Shiro nods and leaves. His hand hurts. He’d gotten his pinkie and ring finger broken in the fight to get out of the ship. It isn’t a big deal.

God, Hunk had been captured by them. Shiro feels sick. What does it matter what damage Shiro had taken in the fight? Bruises and small injuries were nothing compared to what they can do to Hunk.

Hunk is too self-sacrificing. Shiro should have been the one to get captured. Again. First Allura, now Hunk. At least Allura is an adult and an alien; Hunk is just… so young. And a good kid. He doesn’t deserve this. 

God. Shiro tries not to think about when he’d been captured, but the memories press on his skull, trying to emerge from wherever they’ve been buried. He holds his Galra palm to his forehead firmly, whining a little.

There’s something about food that’s scaring him, but he doesn’t know what. He hopes they can rescue Hunk before Hunk is fed, and he doesn’t know why he hopes that so fervently.

He keeps moving, getting into his room and pausing. What is he doing? He moves his hand down from his head to the center of his upper breast, right where three large scars intersect, trying to help himself breathe more evenly. Hunk is in danger, and Shiro needs to heal as soon as he can so that he and the kids will be able to go save Hunk before anything terrible can happen.

Shiro doesn’t think he can stand it if the big, gentle teen has to endure some of the things he has endured. The sights and sounds that have consistently traumatized him every time he remembers anything from that year of his life.

 

\--------

 

Hunk glares at every alien around him. His arms are chained behind him to the wall, his feet to the floor. He’s surrounded by Galra, crowded into his cell, all watching him with shark-toothed grins.

“I’m not going to fight anyone for you! Or tell you any information about Voltron!” he announces when their weird staring starts to get creepy.

Eldek, the captain of the ship, sneers down at him. “You will, Paladin. But don’t worry, we don’t expect you to start behaving immediately. We know it takes a while for a human to learn.”

Hunk’s skin crawls at that. Who did Eldek mean? One of the Holts? Or…

“We’re taking you to Zarkon, and we’re just going to soften you up along the way, ” the Galra commander continues. A drone steps forward, and Endek ignores it as it walks towards Hunk. Hunk struggles with the chains but has no success in freeing himself. “We thought that perhaps you might like a bit of education in how much we’ve succeeded in learning about your species! We have lots of observation footage that we’d love to share with you.”

Hunk barely hears Endek as he struggles, the robot forcing something over his face, pulling it tight. It's some sort of… muzzle? He can still move his mouth, it just adds bars in front of his face. Hunk’s immediate thought is ‘Wow, it’ll be hard to eat with this,’ before he remembers himself.

“What are you-” he starts to demand when the robot’s hands lift up and press gently on his eyes, preventing him from blinking, keeping his eyes wide open and his head in place. “Hey! Stop it!”

“Enjoy,” says Endek with a bark of awful whooping laughter that sends chills down Hunk’s spine.

One side of the cell has a screen on it that now comes to life. Hunk doesn’t know where the speakers are, but the sound that accompanies the image seems to come from all around him.

_“Why?! Why are you doing this??”_

It’s Shiro’s voice, horrified. In the video, he stands slightly hunched over. He has totally black hair, a black eye, and two human arms. His eyes both stream tears.

The camera swung around to view Shiro from behind, and Hunk now sees what Shiro had been staring at. It must have been an alien, but not a species Hunk is familiar with. He wonders vaguely if he’d even recognize an alien he’d known, if he saw it in that condition. How could it still be alive?

Hunk is allowed to stop watching while he hurls his lunch, which clings grossly to the bars of his horrible muzzle.

That doesn't stop him from hearing Shiro, though. _“I beat him! Just stop hurting him, and he can fight another day! Stop!”_

Hunk hears both huffing and some hyena-like cackles. _“Champion should learn that when two enter the death arena, one will always die,”_ someone off-screen tells him.

_“I don’t know what you’re saying! Please!”_

Hunk is forced to look again. The alien is no longer on the screen. Instead, the screen shows a view of Shiro from the side, looking away from the torture. A purple Galra hand wrenches his head back. _“Champion, watch.”_ The voice sounds bored.

It sounds like the voices speak different languages. Usually everyone sounded like they were speaking English to Hunk, but he could hear Spanish under a few of Lance’s more colourful insults to Keith, and Allura and Coran spoke something that was probably Altean. The Lions took care of translating for them. He hadn’t realized before that Shiro never had that benefit back when he was captured by the Galra.

“I get it!” Hunk says, trying to shake his head free of the robot, much like how Shiro resists the purple hand on the screen. “You don’t have to show me any more!”

 _“....do it now.”_ The Galra guard talking to Shiro is saying, pointing at the poor prisoner. _“You’re the Victor, so you have to finish the match properly.”_

Shiro’s hands shake, but he moves forwards and raises the weapon he’s been handed, bringing it down sharply. The accompanying sound is absolutely horrific. Hunk dry heaves.

Inside Hunk’s cell, Eldak comes forward again, baring his long, terrible teeth. “Understand, Paladin? We recorded much of your leader’s time with us. The druids love to learn, and recording events to review is just the start. We have a druid with us now who’d like you to verify a few things about your species. Nothing invasive. We’ll just show you how we investigated the way humans are put together the first time and have you… _confirm_ what Champion told us then.”

There’s one of those spooky Galra druids behind him, and it cocks its head to the side. The druid’s face is hidden by a strange mask, and its cloak hides most of its body from sight. It vanishes and reappears directly in front of Hunk, who screams and flinches back.

It seems pleased, though Hunk can't tell how he knows that, and it moves to the side so that Hunk can see the next scene that has started on the screen.

“Oh-oh my god, what are you doing to him?!” Hunk gasps in horror.

The version of Shiro on the screen now is awake, with wide eyes and sweat-drenched skin. He’s strapped down to a metal table and muzzled similarly to how Hunk is presently. His hair is still pure black, and both of his arms are still attached.

He’s looking down at his torso in horror, and Hunk can not blame him at all. _“I-I’m going to die. You’re going to kill me, ”_ Shiro whispers, and the Druid beside Shiro raps a knuckle on his forehead impatiently.

Shiro swallows, looking from the gruesome sight before him to the Druid with long, white hair and red-stained hands at his side. _“Sorry? Please… please no?”_ Hunk could tell that these words weren’t English, were in fragmented and broken Galra.

 _“_ Please no _, it tries so hard to parrot our words!”_ chortles another Galra Druid nearby who is cleaning off a knife. _“Haggar, I don’t think it can tell us what anything in it does; it’s not that bright.”_

Hunk is shaking like a leaf, tears streaming down his eyes.

Shiro wasn’t wearing his shirt. Instead, he’d been opened up. Completely. From his collarbone to below his bellybutton. His skin had peeled back along with layers of muscle, his chest cavity and abdomen exposed to the air. The reality of the inside of a human body does not resemble the neat diagrams Hunk remembers from school. It's messy and disgusting, and the fact that Shiro had been alive to stare down at his organs somehow made it worse than if he were dead.

 _“Champion,”_ the druid on-screen called Haggar says with what passes for a smile. _“Please tell us what this does.”_ She then reaches into the horrible mess of Shiro’s chest and starts to pull out something pulsating and red. Shiro begins to scream and-

The speakers cut out, and Hunk sighs in relief. Then, he realizes that he isn’t hearing anything else either, even his own sigh. Then everything goes dark. But he could still feel the chains on him, the muzzle on his face, the robot’s digits on his eyes. “Hello?” Hunk calls out. “What did you do?! Stop it!”

But no sight returns to him. Hunk is glad to stop seeing Shiro in that position, watching something that horrible, but he doesn't want to stop seeing everything. He doesn't want Shiro's torture to be the last thing he ever sees or hears.

“Hello?!”

Nothing.

 

\--------

 

Four out of five lions are out of the Castle less than twelve hours later. Injuries were healed, maybe not as completely as they might have been, but enough that the Paladins were able to go. No one was willing to leave Hunk in the clutches of the Galra any longer. 

The ship hadn’t  made it back to Zarkon, but it had run into another batch of Galra ships, and lurked in the center of them, just barely out of their reach.

The paladins might not be able to combine into Voltron without their yellow lion, but they act as a unit anyways, all united by the overwhelming need to save their friend. The black lion activates its jaw blade and uses it mercilessly, slicing across engines and fuel lines, leaving explosions and devastation in its wake. Fire burns through ship after ship, and ice freezes the engines, leaving the target ship itself vulnerable to the powerful attacks of the lions.

The green lion is nowhere to be scene, getting Pidge close enough to the ship to sneak in. Allura was with them, to provide support to in getting Hunk free. In the meantime, there are a lot of Galra ships to rip into pieces. Shiro, Lance, and Keith gladly accept that task, not letting a single one escape.

 

\--------

 

Pidge and Allura evade the drones thanks to Shiro’s observations about their timing patterns. Rover goes with them, masked to look like it's another Galra machine again and going ahead of them to track the signal from Hunk’s Paladin uniform, leading them into the bowels of the ship. Allura is again disguised as a Galra, tall and purple, her teeth clenched together tightly. Pidge glances at her shaking fists and decides not to comment on them.

“He’s close,” Pidge murmurs, and Allura nods. Without any further conversation they continue, letting Rover peak around corners for them and make small affirmative sounds before they follow it.

They don't need to get information from Rover once they’re around the last corner; the noise is perfectly audible. Hunk is screaming.

There are no words, just shouts of pain and fear, and something very cold seizes Pidge from the inside. Neither Pidge nor Allura is willing to wait a second longer, and they barrel into the room where Hunk is being held, completely without plan. Sometimes you just have to go the full Keith.

Hunk is chained to the wall, and what skin they can see is black and blue. The Galra in charge had been shouting something about finding out what had gone wrong (until interrupted by the new arrivals), but Pidge doesn’t much care. 

Eldek is their first target, and their bayard wraps around his neck and yanks him backward, voltage streaming up the bayard and shocking him dramatically. Allura pounces with a yell and grabs one furry ear, slamming his head back into the floor. He doesn’t get up.

Pidge pulls their bayard back and dodges the attack of one drone, slicing up its middle with their bayard, and then shoving it into a Galra that’s swinging to attack them with a large violet sword. This successfully distracts the alien long enough for Allura to attack and disarm it.

“What’s going on?” they heard Hunk say.

“We’re here, Hunk! We’re going to save you!” Pidge shouts, ducking to avoid another sword. Allura grabs the soldier and throws him into the wall while he's distracted by the attempted strike.

“Hello?! I wasn’t exactly having fun before, but nothing happening now is kind of freaking me out!” Hunk says, his voice getting higher in pitch.

“Go to him, Pidge. I’ve got this,” Allura says tightly, dropping one soldier onto her knee.

Pidge swallows and dashes to Hunk’s side. He looks… pretty awful. His face is twisted up, and his head jerks from side to side. The Galra had trapped some awful contraption on his face that was digging into his skin-- it looked like some sort of muzzle? Hunk’s eyes were puffy, and his pupils were blown out, dilated as wide as they could be. Pidge waved a hand in front of his face. “Hunk?” they asked, but they got no response.

Hunk is black and blue and bleeding sluggishly from a wound on his forehead, which had dripped blood down half his face. His wrists are swollen and bleeding, he’s obviously been pulling hard on the chains, and one arm is being held oddly - maybe it's dislocated? Pidge doesn’t know. “Hunk?”

Okay. Still no answer. Hunk isn’t responding to sight or sound. What have the Galra done? Pidge touches Hunk’s uninjured shoulder and winces as Hunk gasps and flinches.

“Leave me alone!” Hunk cries, and Pidge tried to think of a way to tell Hunk it was them but can't. Instead, they just summon their bayard again and carefully slice off the muzzle, letting it fall to the floor, next to a pile of puke. Pidge then cuts the chains on Hunk’s wrists and ankles and dismisses their bayard, grabbing Hunk around the middle in a sudden panicked hug. Despite everything, Hunk is still there, in arm's reach.

Hunk is trembling a little but touches Pidge’s head with his good arm. “I know that hair, on someone this height,” he realizes. “Pidge!” He wraps Pidge in a one-armed hug. “Are you okay? I… I don’t know what they did, but I can’t see or hear a thing, so it might be tough to get me out of here.” He lets Pidge go, but leaves his hand on their shoulder, not wanting to lose track of them.

Pidge opens up communications. “Guys, we have Hunk, but he has no visuals or audio. We might need backup in making it out of the ship.”

“I’m coming in, Pidge. Just hold your position,” Shiro answers immediately.

 

\----------

Shiro wastes no time in entering the ship and leaves a trail of dead Galra and destroyed drones as he follows the directions from Pidge. His Galra arm glows hot, and he has no thought for mercy or caution.

Hunk has to be extracted safely.

It’s hard to think of anything else, actually. That one thought is the only thing that is crystal clear in his head. Hunk has to be saved. Nothing more can be allowed to happen to that boy.

So he slashes his hand across throats, smashes foreheads into walls, breaks machinery, and follows turn after turn until he sees Pidge supporting Hunk in the middle of a swarm of Galra soldiers.

Hunk looks terrible, tear-streaked, red lines around his face. Shiro remembered the feel of something heavy around his mouth, his facial scar throbbing with half-remembered pain. Hunk is shaking, but he is alive and has four limbs, and that is enough for the moment. 

Shiro turns his attention to the fight before him and dives in with a furious snarl. He knocks away a sword before the Galra wielding it can land a blow, snatching it in his human hand and driving it home in their torso, yanking it free and wheeling around to go after the next purple bastard he sees. He slices two drones in half with one swing and turns on a Galra female - only stopping when Allura shouts his name and her purple skin melts into brown to show that she isn’t an enemy. He grunts in apology and moves on.

“I’ll cover your retreat! Head back for the lions!” he shouts, and Pidge starts to urge Hunk forwards.

“Where are we going??” Hunk asks, unable to hear how loud he’s actually being, but he follows Pidge’s guidance. “Pidge, I really wish I could hear you right now, little buddy.”

“C’mon, Hunk. We’ll get you out of here and figure out what they’ve done to you,” Pidge says, more for their own benefit than his.

Allura walks ahead of them, wary for other enemies, and steals a glance over her shoulder at Hunk. “I think…” she says, “from what I sense of his quintessence, he’s been cursed.”

“Once we get back to the castle, a cryopod should fix that, right?” Pidge asks.

Allura opens her mouth, then closes it.

“Right?!” Pidge asks again, wanting the reassurance.

“Shiro!” Allura calls, instead of answering. “Come on!” He isn’t following promptly, too distracted with making sure there’s no one in the chamber behind them to follow.

“Coming!” he shouts, stabbing the sword down into the screen, where a picture of his own screaming face flickers. He shudders and then hurries after his team.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To see the scars mentioned in this fic, [here's a fun picture Demenior drew of Shiro without a shirt, hanging with Allura on the beach, >](http://demenior.tumblr.com/post/149594709794/bunny-loverxiv-requested-shiro-andor-allura-in)


	2. Chapter 2

“What do you mean? You’re joking right? Haha Princess, very funny?!” Lance’s voice was high-pitched, and his skin was paler than it should be.

Allura looked away from him, walking toward one of the ship’s windows and taking a look out at the craggy moon they’d found to anchor the castle to and hide on. It was out of the way of the Galra fleet, and they hoped to gain some time to recover here.

“He’s been magicked by the Galra, Lance. There’s a curse on him. The pods can’t help with that, only other magic will.” Pidge repeated what Allura had told them, sitting on the ground next to the cryopod they’d left Hunk in.

“What are we going to do about that?” Keith asked, rubbing his forehead.

“Do humans have any magic?” Coran asked, running his fingers over his moustache, solemn for once.

“No. I mean, there’s stories about magic, but they’re not real. I’m pretty sure, anyways.” Pidge told him. “I guess if magic is real at all, it could be real at home too.”

“So even if there is magic amongst humans, I suppose none of you know it.” Allura sighed, back to the group.

Keith, Lance and Pidge shook their heads, making quiet noises to indicate their answer.

“Will we have to find a magic-user among the galaxy to undo the curse on Hunk's sight and hearing?” Coran asked, looking towards Allura.

Pidge frowned a little at his tone.

“We will have to see, Coran,” Allura said, then turned back to the rest of them. “I know some magic, but only what i learned at my mother’s knee, before she was taken from me. I don’t know if this is a spell I know, or one I know how to reverse. It might be within my abilities to figure out, but it might not. I’ll have to examine Hunk when he recovers from the rest of his injuries.”

“You know MAGIC?!” Lance asked, shocked.

Allura frowned at him. “Of course I do.” She wound a lock of curly  white hair around a finger and frowned. “We can’t trust anyone else who knows magic. Who knows where they learnt it? The Galra druids are the most powerful in the known galaxy right now, after all.”

“Why haven’t you told us about this before?” Keith wanted to know, moving closer to Allura.

She let the white hair unwind from her finger and combed it back into place. “It was something I practiced with my mother, Keith. From my perspective, it wasn’t all that long since she died. Then the war began and I scarcely had time to heal from that loss. I’ll put it aside for Hunk, of course, but it’s a sad thing to do when it reminds me of her.”

Coran went over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. “It was a sad day for us all, Princess. The Queen was always a force to be reckoned with.”

Pidge lifted an eyebrow at that but didn’t say anything, stomping on Lance’s foot when he opened his mouth to say something else. Keith shifted his weight on his feet, and then just started walking, leaving the room entirely.

Lance stared after him. “We gotta learn him how to people, one day.”

“Right after we teach you.” Pidge promised him.

Allura wiped at her eyes. “We all have our own ways of handling these things, Paladins. For now, Hunk is safe and recuperating. We could all use a chance to breath and destress from the rescue.”

“Good idea, Princess.” Coran said with approval in his voice.

Allura nodded and left the room, and Pidge had a feeling she wanted a chance to think about the parent she hadn’t been letting herself remember recently.

Lance left as well, but Pidge suspected he’d be back soon. When Lance was recovering from his injuries back on the planet of the Arusians, Hunk hadn’t left the side of his cryopod for long at any point.

Pidge looked at Coran. “Did Allura’s mother die in the war?”

“Not as such.” Coran said, lifting both his bushy eyebrows to look at them. “Not long before war was declared though. Are you looking for a history lesson?”

“I wouldn’t mind one, especially from someone who might give a different perspective than Allura.”

“What makes you think we’d tell the story differently?”

“Did you like her? The Queen?” Pidge cocked their head to the side a little.

“That doesn’t effect the telling that much, Pidge. But we were never close, no.” Coran looked up at the ceiling. “The Queen was a very intelligent woman, talented and capable. It’s no surprise that she and King Alfor produced such a talented girl as Allura. But I thank the stars that Allura has more of her father’s temperament.”

“Ah,” Pidge said and fidgeted a little. “Sorry for prying.”

“It’s fine,” Coran assured them. “One of these days, we’ll go over the war in detail with you Paladins. You will need better context for it as we keep going. There’s so much for us to learn from each other; it’s easy to forget. Remind me if we don’t go over it soon.” He smiled at them, moustache framing the kindly expression.

Pidge nodded. Coran left then, pleading some errands to take care of, and Pidge waited for Lance to return to the room before they left. Leaving Hunk alone didn’t seem right, not after everything.

They’d meant to just return to their room and get some technology and maybe a blanket to bring back to the room with the cryopods, to make time spent there a longer-term possibility, but loud and creative swearing waylaid Pidge, and they peeked into the kitchen.

Keith was sucking on his fingertips and glaring at the pan-shaped implement on the heating device. “Quiznaking quiznaked son of a quiznak!”

“You must have used that word right at least once in that sentence.” Pidge snorted, entering the kitchen. “Burn yourself?”

Keith flushed but nodded, shaking his hand quickly. “I figured someone should taken over for Hunk before Coran decided to.”

“C’mere.” Pidge turned on the tap, tested to make sure the water was cool, and directed Keith to put his finger in the running water.

“Thanks.” Keith mumbled.

Pidge shrugged and peeked into the pan. “So what are you making?”

“I don’t know? I was just going to throw in some chopped up bits of stuff and taste test until it was okay.” Pidge looked at him and Keith shrugged. “I ate nothing but jerky and Campbell’s soup when I was living in the desert, so cooking isn’t my thing.”

“Well it’s not mine either.” Pidge shrugged and grabbed a lumpy green fruit of some kind. “But how badly can we fuck up a stir fry?”

 

\----------

 

“How did this happen??” Lance asked in horror. “What is this??”

“We thought - well, Keith thought-”

“You agreed!”

“Guys! I just had to help put out a FIRE in the kitchen of our SPACE SHIP,” Lance said, enjoying one of the moments he got to be the reasonable one. It was great when this happened with Keith, especially. “And you’re presenting me with…. Wet charcoal?”

“That’s the stir fry we made.” Keith mumbled, shoving the plate into Lance’s hands.

“...Yeah, I’m not eating this.” Lance snorted, handing it back to Keith. “I don’t think anyone should. How did you get it burned that badly without noticing??”

“We were trying to make a salad.” Pidge said, making sure they were standing in front of the sad bowl.

“A ...salad? Pidge, let me see.”

“It’s for Shiro!” Pidge said defensively. “Keith says he likes them best!”

“Since we got in space anyways,” Keith mumbled but went unheeded as Lance reached over Pidge’s shoulder to grab at the bowl.

“HOW DID YOU BURN IT??”

“We didn’t burn it!! Burned bits just fell into it. I’ll pick them out!” Pidge said, yanking the bowl back.

“Hunk is going to lose his mind at what’s been done in his absence to this poor kitchen. You got knife marks on the counter when there is a cutting board two feet to the left!” Lance was feeling really cheered up overall. He’d have so much fun recounting all this to Hunk! ...Whenever they fixed the hearing problem.

“What’s the difference?” Keith asked blankly.

“Oh my god, I’m going to ask Hunk to run some cooking lessons when he’s better. Everyone out, we’ll ask Coran for some Altean goo later. Nice attempt, good job not actually burning down the Castle.” Lance shooed them out of the kitchen, each of the would-be chefs clinging to the dish they had in hand.

“I’m going to take that salad to Shiro,” Keith said, trading dishes with Pidge. “If you want Coran to cook, Lance, you go tell him.”

“In dire straits, you do what you gotta! Without starting actual fires!” Lance shouted after the retreating mullet.

Pidge snickered, and they both started to make their way to the room Hunk was in stasis within, slowly healing from his injuries. Thinking about it, Pidge frowned.

“Lance? What are we going to do? If Allura’s right?”

Lance looked at them, face blank for a moment before he plastered on a grin and shoved their shoulder lightly. “Who asked you to be all grim and worried? Look, no matter what, the cryopod will fix up all that terrible the Galra did to him. Then we just convince him he’s safe and with us, maybe let him touch Keith’s mullet a little bit. You can’t replicate something that horrible. Then we just find a wizard, make them do magic, kick their butt if they do anything terrible, and everything’s fine! Easy peasy.”

Pidge rolled their eyes. Lance was worried too, but wasn’t going to admit it to Pidge, they could tell that much. “Yeah. Easy peasy.”

For that bit of cheerful condescension in pretending everything would be fine, Pidge made Lance try a bit of charred vegetation from the stir fry and laughed as he dramatically recoiled in disgust.

Then a scream sounded through the Castle and they were on their feet and moving before they even thought twice, the stir fry dropped to the ground.

It was coming from Shiro’s room.

When they got there, they found Allura standing at the doorway, hand on her mouth. Keith was kneeling next to Shiro, checking his pulse.

“He’s not-” Lance said in horror, but Keith shook his head and Lance’s mouth shut.

“He’s not dead, I’m just checking his heart rate. It’s faster than it should be, for someone in his shape,” Keith told him quietly.

Shiro’s eyes fluttered open. “Maybe I just let myself go recently.” He croaked, sitting up a little bit, rubbing his head. “What happened?”

They all looked at Keith. He went a little red but shrugged, casting a guilty look to the salad that had spilled all over the floor in his room, the dish having landed upside down. “Pidge and I made some food, and I was bringing you a salad, and you were just… on the floor.”

“Oh man. That was really nice of you guys.” Shiro flashed Keith, then Pidge a smile. “Hunk would be proud.”

“No he wouldn’t,” Lance mumbled, earning an elbow from Pidge.

“You passed out, though. Shiro, are you okay?” they asked.

“Yeah. No, I just haven’t slept well lately. I guess I just rolled off the bed, or something. Don’t worry about it guys.”

“Are humans supposed to be so wet when not physically exerting themselves?” Allura asked, stepping forwards. “You’re paler then usual as well.”

“C’mon Shiro, let’s get you up on your bed.” Keith got to his feet and offered Shiro his hand. Shiro took it with his Galra hand and staggered a little in getting up, putting a hand to his forehead. “Shiro?”

“Just a bit dizzy.” Shiro shook his head and let go of Keith’s hand, patting him on the shoulder. “I’m fine. We should go get something to eat, that should help.”

“You’re really sweaty.” Lance said, blocking Shiro’s way. “Sit down for a second first, the last thing we need is for you to get sick. You could have some weird alien disease! I don’t want Galra Smallpox.”

Pidge scoffed. “I think he’d have contracted something already if he was going to.” Then Pidge paled and bit their lip.

Shiro waved a hand as he sat on his bed obediently.

“They do have vaccines, Pidge. Workers that drop dead from disease are of no use. New species are probably inoculated as a matter of course. Besides, the Castle of Lion is warded against disease by ancient magical devices; all germs are exterminated as you enter and leave the ship,” Allura reassured the youngest Paladin, knowing that their distress was about more than just having possibly upset Shiro.

“It’s a moot point guys, I’m fine. I’m just hot.”

"Hot damn!" Lance shouted excitedly, and then winced under the resulting glares. "You know, 'make a dragon wanna retire, man'? C'mon guys! The song's a classic! Keith, back me up buddy!"

“I barely know about current music and you want me to be an expert on the Golden Oldies?” Keith asked him incredulously. “Anyways - Shiro, lemme just take your temperature or something, you don’t look that good.”

“If it makes you feel better.” Shiro shrugged before leaning his head towards Keith, who touched his forehead with the back of his hand. He only grimaced a little at how slick and sweaty skin he touched was.

“You’re… really hot, Shiro. Maybe the Castle can’t stop like, a cold or something? I don’t know. But you should maybe take it easy.” Keith said slowly, a frown on his face.

“Two Paladins out of commission.” Allura murmured, shaking her head. “We need to reserve our resources and be careful.”

“I’m not out of commission.” Shiro objected. “I feel fine.”

“Good. Then you can fight at need, but I’d like you to take it easy until then, and for one of the other humans to be keeping an eye on you; they’ll recognize danger signs easier.” Allura told him, putting a hand on his shoulder. “We need you to take care of yourself, Shiro.”

Shiro sighed. “Alright, but I’m going to rest near the cryopods - I want to see how Hunk is when he’s better.”

“Sounds like a plan.” She smiled. “Lance, Keith, could you help him there?”

“Sure thing. Shiro’s room smells weird anyways.” Lance said, walking closer to Shiro.

“Does it?” Allura asked, amused.

“Probably these. Your plant collection is looking kind of sad, Shiro, they’re all crumpled and gross,” Pidge said, looking at the shelf piled high and haphazardly with plants. “Maybe it’s time to swap some out.”

Shiro lurched to his feet and teetered, looking like he might fall. Keith grabbed his arm quickly. “I’ll take it under advisement. Let’s go check in and see how much longer it’ll take until we can see Hunk.”

Lance and Keith supported Shiro as they left and went down the hall. Pidge started to follow them and then stopped. “Are you coming?”

“In a second,” says Allura, “I think Shiro might have a plant here similar to a kind we had on Altea, but it looks so different dried like this, and in this condition. I’m just going to look, you go ahead.” Pidge shrugged and went to catch up with the others.

Allura looked at the shelf. Bits of foodstuff clung to some of the stems. It looked like the dish Hunk had last prepared before everything had happened. Some of the leaves were crumpled and torn, and underneath them she saw a glint of metal. She moved some of the dried plants to the side and saw that the glint was a bit of machinery. Some plants were caught in what looked like one of her own hair pins.

Had this been in the garbage?

Perhaps the smell had begun to offend him, but he’d ended up missing the comfort they offered him.

She turned to leave the room, a look of shame on her face for invading Shiro’s privacy. The flowers themselves hadn’t looked Altean, but the smell of them had reminded her of private lessons in her youth.

“Oh- the food Keith and Pidge made.” She remembered when she stepped on a bit of ...burned plant matter? The foods humans favored were odd sometimes.

She could at least clean up before leaving. She picked up the bowl, deciding that the leaves could be placed back inside to be transported back to the kitchen.

Something was under the bowl. She put the bowl to the side and mentally asked the mice to gather up the food for her. Gentle, she picked up the cloth, dried plants, and spoon.

“Now what is this doing here?” She asked herself. The cloth was creased, and the spoon was one of the ones that hadn’t been gaining strange marks on the rounded part of it. Did humans eat salad with spoons?

Allura put what she’d gathered in her pocket, and picked up the dish, now full of the vegetation her paladins had prepared for their leader. Then she left Shiro’s room, only glancing once more at the plants Shiro kept on the shelf.

 

\----------

 

“Maybe you should go into a cryopod,” Keith told Shiro, watching Coran take away the cleaning supplies he’d used to get rid of the evidence of Shiro being physically ill on the floor.

“No.” They’d moved Shiro to the wall, so he could use that to be in an upright position even though his strength seemed to be failing him in all ways but stubbornness.  

“You can’t deny that you’re sick, Shiro,” Pidge said, crossing their arms.

“I might be, but I’m not going to go in a cryopod until I know that Hunk is okay.” Shiro shook his head to add emphasis, and then put a hand to the side of his head.

“Shiro, don’t be ridiculous. As a paladin of Voltron, you need to take care of yourself,” Allura scolded.

“As a leader, as a person, I need to know Hunk is okay.” Shiro looked away and clenched his fists. “Especially after what he’s been through.

Keith sighed loudly. “You’re going in a cryopod the second he wakes up, whether or not he can see or hear. Deal?”

“Deal.” Shiro agreed, and then leaned back and closed his eyes.

 

\----------

 

By the time Hunk was released from the cryopod, they’d all settled in that room. Shiro still sat against the wall, blankets nearby. They had been brought in when he began to shiver, but his temperature had been so hot they’d elected to pull them off again.

Lance caught Hunk as the large boy staggered, squeezing him tight around the midsection. His friend’s form was soft and perfect for hugs, and it reassured Lance to feel how solid and real Hunk was.

“Hunk!” Keith said from Shiro’s side, relieved to see him, and the others hurried over, helping Lance guide Hunk to a seat next to Shiro. The yellow Paladin was pale, but his injuries were gone - no bruises, no marks on his face or wrists, his arms looked just fine.

“Hunk, how are you feeling?” Pidge asked urgently, eyes focused on his.

“I’m alright, Pidge. Don’t look so worried.” Hunk smiled, patting the small hand on his shoulder. “You all got me out of there, and I’ll be fine after some food.”

“You heard me!” Pidge said, and their head whipped around to look at Allura. “He heard me!”

Allura nodded slowly. “Can you see as well, Hunk?”

“I can! The cryo-pod must have fixed whatever they did to my eyes and ears.” Hunk said, sighing in relief.

Pidge grinned. “I’m glad - the Princess said that it was a curse, that the cryopod might not be able to fix it.”

“Oh man! Well, I’m glad the cryopods keep being lifesavers!”

Coran looked at Allura who shrugged helplessly in response to his silent question.

“I’ll... go get some food.” Coran said, turning to leave.

Hunk made a face, but was hungry enough to eat anything.

“Trust me, man, there are worse options, ” Lance sniggered.

Shiro moved a little bit, groaning, and Hunk looked over at him. His colour, which had been getting better, paled and went slightly green.

“Hunk?” Lance asked in alarm, scrabbling for the container they’d brought in when Shiro started to be nauseous. He knew that colour on Hunk, he’d seen his friend be sick often enough.

He didn’t have much to bring up, but his body made a good effort. Allura knelt by him to rub small circles on his back.

“Sorry.” He said hoarsely. “I just- the things. Um. They played… I guess I’m just not feeling well.”

“Sorry,” Shiro said, quietly and guilt-laden. “Keith, can you help me back to…” He trailed off and his tongue ran over his dry lips. The sweat had dried on him and wasn’t the most pleasant feeling. “Uh, my room?”

“I think you should stay where you are, Shiro. We wanted to test out the cryopods once you saw Hunk was well, remember?” Allura reminded him, getting up and reaching out a hand to him.

“Oh. Right.” Shiro took the hand and got to his feet, and would have fallen forwards onto his face if Keith didn’t jump to catch him. His knees wobbled in a worrying way. “Sorry,” he said again.

“Hush,” Allura said briskly, Keith and her walking Shiro to a cryopod and helping him inside. “We’ll be here when you wake up,” she promised, and he’d barely nodded before the cryopod closed over him.


	3. Chapter 3

Hunk had taken command of the kitchen once Shiro was placed into the cryopod, but Lance had declared him Too Traumatized to actually cook. Lance had stationed him in a chair to issue orders and to keep an eye on his temporary stand-ins. Hunk took the role with good humor, and was talking Pidge through safe chopping techniques before Coran and Keith arrived.

“We’re going to make some soup for Shiro, in case he’s not feeling up to solid foods when he’s better!” Lance told them, grinning loosely as he peeled a root quasi-vegetable. 

“Keith, could you fill up a pot with some water and put it on the stove? Don’t turn on the heat yet.” Hunk asked, clearly having been advised by Lance of the full extent of what had happened in his kitchen. Keith hurried to do so.

“You alright, Paladin?” Coran asked, clapping a hand on Hunk’s shoulder gently. 

Hunk smiled at him. “I’m okay. Lance has cheered me up with his description of what Pidge and Keith think cooking is.” His face was free of bruises and wounds now, but he looked troubled. Coran made a note to check in again once Hunk wasn’t surrounded by friends he didn’t want to worry. 

“It’s Keith’s fault, really!” Pidge objected.

“What? No!” Keith said, scowling. “Look, if we had canned food here, I’d show all of you.”

“Keith. Keith. Buddy. Pal. Keitharoni. Mulletman. Heating up cans of food is not a skill.” Lance told him patiently, grinning as Keith glared at him.

“Yeah well, I survived in the desert on my own, so there,” Keith muttered. “Hunk, should I turn on the heat now?”

“On the lowest setting, okay? Twist the knob to the right.” Hunk directed cautiously. “We just want to let it slowly come to a boil.”

“On the subject of heat, I was wondering if I could talk to you all about safe temperatures for humans, and other various aspects of illness and signs of health?” Coran interjected.

“Why?” Lance asked blankly. “We have the cryopods.”

“What do we do if the cryopods aren’t working, or we’re stranded away from the ship, or the ship loses power again? Dummy.” Pidge said, rolling their eyes. “We should know some of the same things about Alteans too, probably.”

“That might take some time to explain, and we can go into it later. I have a comprehensive knowledge of basic medical care for many species, and more advanced knowledge for Alteans, but all of you are quite young, and I’m concerned that we might be drawing together pieces of information from each of you, which might conflict and be inexact.” Coran explained, pulling out a datapad. “And there’s a lot of Altean information in the ship’s databanks, which Pidge and Hunk could certainly locate and read if I’m unavailable.”

“Makes sense,” Keith said, putting a lid on the pot of water. “Where should we start?”

“Hey, guys - I’m just gonna go check on Shiro’s progress.” Hunk said quickly, getting off his chair. The thought of another disaster had his stomach in knots and he wanted some fresh air. 

“We only just popped him in, though,” Lance said, looking puzzled. “And we need you to prevent another kitchen disaster. Keith might stick his hand into the water to check if it’s hot.”

“I will not!” Keith snapped. “Seriously, make another cooking joke and I’m going to bake a pie and introduce your face to it.”

“Like you could bake a-”

“Guys!” Hunk said plaintively. “I’ll be right back. Just get those vegetables chopped, and mince those leaves I found last week, and get the water boiled.”

“Go ahead Hunk, I’ll make sure nothing happens while you’re on a walk. Why, perhaps I could assist in the preparation myself!” Coran waggled his moustache until Hunk’s lips twitched into a smile. “Go on.” He added with a little nod. 

Hunk took a deep breath and left the kitchen, hearing quiet talking start up behind him. 

He outpaced the ability to overhear anything quickly, making a beeline to the cryopods. He’d have to be able to face a crisis again, but not so soon. Everything he’d seen and been through still echoed in his skull. The terrible things he’d seen being done to Shiro especially sat badly with him.

He’d known the Galra did terrible things. But seeing Shiro weep as he was vivisected…

Hunk almost envied Shiro’s lack of memory. It was better not to remember something like that, wasn’t it?

Something about that thought seemed off, but he didn’t want to think about it anymore. 

His hand rubbed at his nose. The weight of the muzzle wasn’t there anymore, but it kept feeling like it was. When he’d lost his sight and hearing, all he’d felt was pain and the restraints on his limbs, and the muzzle. Shiro had been muzzled too - he remembered that.

He wondered why that was. Galra teeth looked way scarier than human teeth. The Galra commander that Shiro had … well, ‘lost’ was the word he was most comfortable using, he’d had sharp, scary teeth he bared when fighting. Hunk ran his tongue over his flatter teeth. Why did human teeth scare the Galra?

Human mouths had a lot of germs in them, didn’t they? Maybe the Galra couldn’t cope with Earth germs introduced to a wound - did that mean Shiro had bitten one of them at one point?

Geeze. Shiro definitely had tried everything he could when he was captured, if that was the case.

Hunk ran a hand through his brown hair. He wanted to go home, and that wasn’t really fair of him to wish. Shiro had been away so much longer, suffered so much more. Shiro hadn’t complained about missing home once.

Shiro tried not to complain at all, though.

“One day, we’ll all just relax on the beach and have a day off,” Hunk muttered, making his way into the room with the cryopods. The idea was innately relaxing, and he wished it could be true. He’d love to sit back and soak in the sun as Lance tried to surf with no lessons and wiped out. Or maybe he and Keith would have a sandcastle building contest. Pidge would probably be nestled under an umbrella with a piece of technology to work on. Allura and Coran would want to learn Earth beach traditions - volleyball or something. Shiro would probably surf like a pro, or catch fish with his bare hand. Something impressive done so casually you barely questioned it.

Or maybe Shiro too would just want to stretch out on the sand and let the sun bake into him.

Hunk breathed out and looked around the empty room. He wasn’t sure where Allura was, and everyone else was back in the kitchen.

Except, of course, for Shiro, who was in the cryopod with the bright red colour on the glass that obscured his face.

Wait.

What?

Hunk rush over, staring at the red liquid dripping down the glass he should be able to see Shiro’s face through. It looked like-

“Oh no. Oh no! ALLURA! CORAN! GUYS!” Hunk shouted. He panicked and pressed buttons until the cryopod opened up, releasing Shiro. Hunk caught him as he fell forwards. “Shiro! Shiro, are you okay?!”

Blood dripped down Shiro from his mouth, covering his chin and the front of his shirt. Shiro wasn’t able to support himself and started to cough, more blood coming out of his mouth. “Where…?”

“You were in a cryopod, Shiro, I just took you out.” Hunk told him, supporting his weight and lowering him to the ground carefully.”

“Wha….?”

“What’s happened?! Hunk?” Allura rushed in, hands flying to her mouth before she joined Hunk by Shiro’s side.

“I, I was just going to check on him, and there was blood all over the window, and I got him out and there’s so much blood!” Hunk’s voice was just a little shrill, and Shiro groaning before vomiting more blood did not help his nerves at all. Shiro’s arms were wrapped around his middle and he looked at them blearily.

“Where’m I?”

“The Castle of Lions,” Allura answered absently, staring with wide eyes at the blood on the floor. 

“Shiro!” Keith shouted as he rushed into the room, horror painting his face a ghostly white colour. 

Everyone else had arrived and made sounds of distress and confusion.

“Everyone! Hush up, Shiro doesn’t need all this noise.” Allura said crisply, looking up and meeting Coran’s eyes. “I don’t think the cryopod did him any favors.”

“Let’s get the lad in a bed, and we’ll see what we can do. Maybe one a bit closer than his room.” Coran suggested, nodding to the hovering Keith. He cradled Shiro in his arms and Keith went ahead to open up one of those empty, cool rooms. Allura followed, biting her lower lip, everyone else trailing behind her, Lance quietly putting an arm around Hunk’s shoulders. 

“Pidge,” Allura said quietly, watching Keith sit next to the bed as Coran gently laid Shiro on top of it. The rest of the Paladins crowded near the door. The humans were lucky that the Castle had so many visitors that preferred to rest on cushioned sleeping pallets, so they’d always had ones kept ready. Sometimes various species preferred pits, or nests or small pools of sludge. There were even the rare breeds that slept in narcotic slime. 

Altea had always been a planet ready to welcome any kind of visitor, and the Castle of Lions had been built in that spirit.

“Yes?” Pidge asked, stepping into the room a little.

Keith put a worried hand on Shiro’s forehead, gaze focused on him.

“I’d like you to take a look at the records from the cryopod, alright? Try and see what happened.” Allura requested, one of her hands fiddling with something in her pocket. 

Pidge hesitated. “I’d like Coran to help since this is fiddlier work and I want to be careful with the cryopods.”

“No problem at all! You go ahead, I’ll meet you in just a tick!” Coran told them encouragingly. Pidge nodded and left the room.

Keith spoke up. “He feels hot. Do you have anything that could take his internal temperature? I think there’s a temperature that’s unsafe to reach, and we should probably keep an eye on it.”

“What temperature?” Allura asked and Keith hesitated. 

“Uh- 100 Fahrenheit and a bit? I’m not sure.” Keith turned pleading eyes to Lance and Hunk.

“104, I think?” Lance answered, sounding a little unsure.

“Sounds right to me.” Hunk agreed. “But how are we going to compare Fahrenheit to Altean temperature? It’s not like it’s Celsius we’re converting it to or anything.”

“How about Allura stays here and watches Shiro, and I’ll go have a talk with you two and Pidge, pool your resources a bit, and go back to going over some basic information on the care of humans in this situation while Pidge reviews the cryopod records,” Coran suggests, patting Keith’s back and gently guiding him out of the room. Lance and Hunk followed in his wake.

Allura nodded and pulled up a chair to sit by Shiro’s bedside. 

Coran could corral the Paladins and sift through their no doubt strange and quite funny chatter to get the basics of human health out of them. Her instinct had been to keep them in here - but Coran was wiser to suggest a separation of them and Shiro. 

Shiro clearly wasn’t very aware of his surroundings, whilst poor Hunk seemed distressed every time he looked at Shiro. 

Allura remembered seeing images displayed, terrible ones, with a bloody, gory Shiro in some pain. How he must have suffered, in the grasp of the Galra. How Hunk must have suffered, viewing any of that before his sudden magical affliction prevented him from viewing any more. She knew the Paladins well now, and forcing Hunk to view pain done to a friend was cruelty of the highest degree. 

She remembered her own time in captivity. She’d been locked in a cage almost immediately, Galra leering in at her. If her friends and teammates hadn’t come when they had, she’d little doubt that she’d have been dragged before the Emperor, and then the situation would have escalated dramatically.

Shiro’s breath was ragged, and she brushed his hair back on his head, noticing that the unpleasant dampness on his skin had returned. “My poor friend.” She sighed. Black and white hair was combed back by her careful fingers, and her other hand reached into her pocket, touching what was there. 

What had happened with Hunk? Cryopods couldn’t stop curses. 

And she didn’t see any overt curse on Shiro, but the cryopod should have had little trouble purging illness and infection out of him. Instead, it had injured something inside him, and he’d been spewing blood in a most distressing way. If Hunk hadn’t checked on him… the worst could have happened.

Nothing was making sense, and Allura was determined to figure out why.

Allura jumped when Shiro let out a loud groan. She looked at him in concern, and he looked back, eyes open a sliver. “My head is killing me…” He mumbled and she frowned tightly.

Were humans supposed to lose colour like this? Shiro was so pale, and his facial scar stood out all the more for it. “Is there something I can do to help?”

“I’unno…” He mumbled, shifting slightly. “If you can…. Slow down th’spinning.”

“Nothing’s spinning, Shiro.” She told him, biting her lower lip in concern. “Try closing your eyes. Have you ever felt like this before?”

“Memory’s full of…. Holes. Swissed it up. Like ...cheese.” Well, maybe what he was saying made sense to humans. She’d have to ask, later. 

“...Alright. if you can, what were you doing in your room before Keith found you?” She tried to take his hand in hers, to reassure him that she was there, but his limbs were stiff, and she instead just patted his hand before withdrawing her own to her lap.

Shiro was silent a moment and then whispered. “I’m not…. sure.” 

“It might help us figure out what’s wrong, Shiro. Can you try and think?” She pressed a little, feeling a bit bad for it, but without more information they were stuck watching him suffer, without much to do to help him.

“Hunk.” Shiro breathed out, and she patted his arm again.

“Hunk’s fine, Shiro, Coran’s with him and the others now.”

“Good,” Shiro said and then his breathing changed a little, and she could tell that he’d begun another sleep cycle. She sighed heavily and went to fetch a damp cloth so she could clean off the worst of the blood. No answers were forthcoming right now, it seemed.

\----------

The younger Paladins sat in the room with Coran, looking despondent. Pidge was reviewing the information for the cryopod, and Coran was industriously cleaning up the blood Shiro had puked onto the ground. They’d sussed out a few health details, but once they moved past the most relevant details to Shiro, their hearts weren’t in it.

Coran could keep pressing for details later.

“This doesn’t make sense.” Pidge finally said. “It looks like it thought the problem it needed to fix wasn’t an illness or whatever was causing his weakness and passing out, but that he was wounded, and it was trying to adjust his organs!” Pidge shuddered. “That’s awful.”

Lance and Keith looked kind of queasy, Hunk just bit his lip and tried not to remember the memory that tried to replay itself in his mind.

“That’s odd…” Coran frowned. “The cryopods are basing their information about what’s common between the five of you humans - is there something that might be different about your organs?”

The paladins exchanged glances.

“Maybe Shiro had surgery? Gallbladder removal? He could have donated an organ or something, he’s that kind of guy.” Lance asked.

“I don’t think he could have gone on the Kerberos mission if he’d donated an organ,” Keith said. “They’re pretty strict about the health of pilots on missions so far from Earth.”

“I can vouch for that,” Pidge said, nodding.

“He could have lied or hidden it,” Lance said but shrugged.

“The cryopod isn’t immune to malfunction. It could have been hacked or broken somehow. With everything that’s happened to this ship, and how long they’ve gone unmaintained, it’s not that shocking.” Coran pointed out. “We’ll work on it, don’t you all worry.”

Hunk let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding.

\----------

Shiro woke up again later, mostly cleaned of blood, and no longer sweating quite so much. That wasn’t much of a help though because he started gabbling in the Galra language at Allura.

“Where am I? Who are you? Where is she?”

He looked awful. His chest rose and fell quickly, his breathing quicker now than it usually was, and his face was flushed. Shiro had his mouth open, and she found her eyes drawn to his very… pointy teeth.

So, in the tongue of Galra, she responded. “You’re recovering. I am Allura. What do you remember? What is your name?”

He actually laughed and tried to push himself up, though he fell back almost immediately. “I see what you are. I have learned. Who gives up their name to a witch when they have no reason to?”

“May I call you something else, then?”

“Yeah. Y’can… call me Champion.” Shiro yawned, and something about his face that had been harsh when he awoke softened, and he looked visibly tired again. He was slurring some of his words together, exhaustion pulling his eyelids down slowly.

Allura spoke quickly. “Champion, how did you learn not to give your name to magic-users?”

“How… else?” Shiro asked, and then slipped back into sleep.

Keith came in not long after, to check in on Shiro, and it was lucky the boy got so focused on problems because she didn’t think she was doing a great job of hiding how troubled she felt. Names. Perhaps she ought to teach the rest of the Paladins to be wary with their names.

Perhaps she’d been so detached from her magical learnings, she’d put her young friends at risk.

It was something to think about.

Keith left again, and as she sat watch over Shiro, different Paladins cycled in, taking turns to check in on how Shiro was doing. None of them looked happy. Lance brought a bowl of soup and told a still sleeping Shiro that they’d all made it together. 

“I couldn’t let Hunk bring it in. I don’t think he’s noticed how much his hands are shaking.” He mumbled to Allura and fled the room before she could say anything.

Seeing Shiro in that state had affected everyone, and to look at him now didn’t inspire much more confidence.

When Pidge visited, he opened his eyes blearily and looked at them before they could so much as say hello.

“Matt? What are you doing here, Matt, don’t you have to study for that big test?” Shiro asked, his voice sounding… well, the only word Allura could think of was ‘young.’

“I…” Pidge touched their hair. “Study break, don’t worry about it. You okay?”

“Well, I didn’t get the license plate number of the truck that hit me, but I’ll be okay. Just don’t ask me to run a lap or stand without falling over right now, okay?” Shiro laughed weakly and closed his eyes. “Is the A/C broken, buddy?”

“You hot?”

“You know it.”

“Oh my god.” Pidge covered their face, turning red. Concern was rapidly being overshadowed by embarrassment.

“You usually give as good as you get, Matt. Everything okay?” Shiro tried to push himself up and gasped with the effort required. He hadn’t seemed to notice Allura in his disoriented mindset.

“I - uh - Just… worried about that test. Buddy. I should probably get back to studying.” Pidge stared at Shiro, clearly nonplussed. Their ears were bright red with embarrassment. 

“Thanks for… visiting. Always nice to see…. A cute face.” Shiro was yawning and looked tired again. “Matt?”

“Um, yeah?”

“I’m sorry about what happened when I saw you and your dad again...”

“What?”

But Shiro was passing out, and Pidge got no reply. They looked at Allura, who was just as confused. 

“Did you ever hear about him doing something weird or offensive with your father and brother?” Allura asked and Pidge shook their head in response.

“No! They always spoke highly of him.” Pidge bit their lower lip. “Maybe he meant… well. Nevermind. He probably never saw them again after they were sent from the fights with the Galra, he can’t mean that.”

Allura put a hand on their shoulder. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine! Who knew he used to flirt with my brother?” Pidge laughed awkwardly.

“Do humans… often get confused about the identities of others when ill?” 

“I think he’s just exhausted and confused, and you know that he has a lot of memory problems. Maybe his mind is trying to focus on a better time in his life, where he felt safer.” Pidge shrugged. “I don’t know, really. Shiro’s been through a lot of shit, and I don’t think anything that’s happened recently has helped at all.

Allura frowned. “No. I don’t think it has.” She stood up. “Can you watch him for a while? I-” 

Shiro suddenly went quite stiff and started to jerk, eyes opening and staring blankly into space. “He’s seizing!” Pidge gasped, hands flying to their mouth. “We need to put something in his mouth- no, no, we don’t, they changed that didn’t they?! Oh, shit.”

Allura stared at them and then back at Shiro, feeling helpless. “What can we do?!”

“I… don’t think we can do anything.” Pidge waited with her until the seizure ended and Shiro slumped into stillness again.  He was still, but his breathing still was coming too quickly compared to all the other humans.

“Is he going to be okay?” Allura asked Pidge quietly. Pidge shrugged.

“I… I don’t really know. We need to figure out a way to help make him better.” Pidge said quietly, fists clenched tightly. All embarrassment at Shiro’s behaviour earlier seemed to have faded in light of their worry for him. “This isn’t good.”

“No. I can see that.” Allura sighed. “Nevermind watching over him, just go ask Coran to bring me my Mother’s old working bag.”

“...Are you going to do magic?” Pidge asked, fascinated.

“I am. But you’re going to stay with the other Paladins, well away from this room.” Allura shooed Pidge out of the room. “Go find the boys and keep them distracted once you’ve talked to Coran.”

“On it.”

Pidge left, and Allura settled on the chair again, nervously bouncing her leg. Magic. It was a delicate thing to immerse herself in again.

Shiro whined softly and she turned her attention to him. He was awake, curled on his side, looking as if he was trying to keep himself quiet. When Allura reached out a hand to him, he flinched minutely but otherwise held himself still, allowing himself to be touched. He was trembling in fear, though.

“Shhh, Shiro, it’s alright. I’m just going to do something to see if I can figure out how to help you.” She told him softly, but he pressed his face into the pillow and mumbled words in Galra.

They weren’t as easy or fluent-sounding this time. “No… Please… Hurts…. Fight…. Again….Please…”

“It’s alright.” She tried in Galra, but he just trembled harder, squeezing his eyes closed.

“Princess?” Coran inquired, entering the room and closing the door behind him. He held a bag made of the tanned hide of one of Altea’s native creatures. It had glyphs on the front that spelled out Queen Cenura in golden thread.

“Thank you, Coran.” Allura took the bag and hugged it close to her body. “I don’t think Shiro is doing well.”

“No kidding.’ Coran looked at the shaking, pale Shiro and frowned. “That sounds like the Galra’s language.”

“It is. He called himself Champion earlier, but then he called Pidge by their brother’s name. Pidge thinks that his memory problem isn’t helping the toll this disease is taking on him.” Allura opened the bag and pulled out a sphere of smokey gray glass. “I’m going to see if there’s any magic affecting him adversely.”

“You didn’t check him for a curse?” Coran was surprised but reassured by how she rolled her eyes.

“Of course I did, and there isn’t one. I’m looking for something… more subtle.” Allura almost smiled, but Shiro mumbled another pleading word in the Galra language and chased all thoughts of reassuring Coran away. 

“Alright. You can do this Princess.” Coran told her, and she nodded, putting the strap of the bag over her head.

“I can. I learned magic from my mother, the Queen Cenura, secret arts dating back to time immemorial. Her spirit will guide me to my answers.” 

Coran pressed his back against the door as Allura stood over Shiro. She held the crystal ball out in front of her, breathed in deep and slowly exhaled. 

When all the breath had exited her lungs, her eyes began to glow a golden colour. Her quintessence was gathered by her will, and used to draw smoke out of the crystal and into the room, mist drifting around, lit oddly by her bright eyes. Shiro was surrounded by a gentle haze, revealed by the mist, radiating orange, radiating warmth inwards. Strings ran off from him, glowing Galra purple. Some started at his skull, some from his chest, some from his teeth, and many from his arm, and they all ran towards the nearest viewport, towards the same point in space.

Another string ran out of his body, but it was fading, magic worked & dismissed. From his flesh hand, a single thread of dark purple magic, almost black, ran right into the wall, connecting to something outside of her sight, but far closer than all the rest. 

Allura turned her attention to the aura of heat around Shiro. It was tied around him with threads of near-black purple and enemy violet, working together to hold this spell to him. Not a curse, a spell, one that wasn’t just built by one person.

Shiro looked up at her, pleadingly and reached out. “Malch…?”

Allura dropped the crystal ball.

Coran dove and just managed to catch it before it hit the floor.

The mist dissipated and her eyes returned to normal. 

“Shiro. Oh gods, Shiro.” Allura sunk to her knees and covered her eyes. Shiro stared at her, uncomprehending.

“Princess?” Coran asked, slowly getting upright, holding the ancient crystal carefully. “What’s ‘Malch’ mean?”

‘Teacher. Instructor.” Allura said numbly. “And… mother.”

“Ye gods.” Coran breathed in horror. “What did they do to him?”

“I think we’re seeing the crust of the planet, Coran, but we’re nowhere near the core.” Allura ran a hand through her hair. “You can’t tell the Paladins about this, Coran. I wonder if Shiro even remembers this much.”

“Of course. But… who is she?”

“He thought I was her. Using magic. It must have been a druid.” Coran and her made eye contact, and they both suspected that it was the main druid. But the thought was too awful to say aloud. They’d heard plenty about Zarkon’s right hand, and it was all frightening and horrible.

“I need to talk to him, Coran. Alone. I might have a way to help him.” Allura told him, taking the crystal back from him and stowing it into the bag at her side. “Go watch over the Paladins.”

“Certainly. Be careful, Allura.” He waited until she nodded, and then got to his feet and left, closing the door behind him carefully.

Allura let silence grow between them for a few dozen ticks, watching the frightened Shiro stare at her.

“Tell me about Malch.”

Shiro doesn’t speak coherently. He talks about strength. He talks about fear. Blood, death, and food. Shiro tells her of safety, of comfort and he talks about magic.

Shiro talks of dying and birth.

In short, he talks of change.

“Shiro. You have a spell on you. I think you helped put it there. It’s killing you, Shiro.” Allura tells him, softly, not in the Galra tongue, but in her own, which she knows he hears in Earth language.

“It...was s’cold…. Ship‘s built for w’rmth… n’fur.” He mumbles, seeming to understand which spell has gone wrong.

“It’s a fine temperature here. Shiro, you need to cut its ties from you. I can help you, if you let me.” Allura took his replacement hand in hers. “Show me where she tied it to you first, and I will guide you through severing it. The rest will fall away.”

“Malch will… be mad. I have t’be worthwhile. No help.” Shiro rasped, pulling his hand away.

“She isn’t here, Shiro. I think she tampered with it. I think she felt what you did earlier.”

“Pun’shment.” 

“Shiro, you tried to help. You don’t have to do what she wants anymore.”

Allura was getting increasingly desperate and Shiro laughed again, a dreadful, breathy little noise. “M’tired.”

“You’re going to die, Shiro! Please. Please.” Allura was begging now and she didn’t care. “I found this, Shiro. I know you wanted to spare Hunk something. I know you didn’t mean for it to be a curse.” She takes the spoon, plants and the piece of fabric out of her pocket, showing it to him.

“The spoon for Hunk, the herbs for painkilling and the fabric to prevent him from seeing or hearing the world around him.” Allura told him what maybe every level of his mind didn’t know. “The cryopod didn’t fix him, you unrolled the spoon. And maybe she sensed you doing magic, and she altered the spell. But you need to break the tie.”

Shiro just stared at her. “Maybe… better this way. I’m not… Shiro.”

“You are the black Paladin, you’re Shirogane Takashi. Maybe you’re this Champion as well, but we’ll find that out together. Shiro, I’m your friend. We’re your friends. Don’t let this happen to you. The other Paladins are worried sick.”

His eyes focused on her. “Don’t need me.”

“They do! We do. Shiro. Let me help.” Allura pleaded. He seemed even paler now, and she couldn’t read the look on his face.

“No. Can’t let… y’be tangled into her web.” Slowly, he reached out. “Okay. Okay. Gimme… f’bric.” She placed it in his hand and he waited until she pulled her hand away before he grasped it hard and heated up his artificial hand.

The torn bit of fabric burst into flames and burst into ashes.

“Malch’s… cloak.” Was all she got in explanation and he passed out again. 

“Shiro?! Shiro!” She shouted, but he didn’t stir at all. Still pale. Still hot. 

But his quick breathing was slowly relaxing into calmer, deeper breaths.

She sat on the chair again, watching him, watching her hands shake. Slowly, his skin cooled, his colour returned. But he slept on. 

Allura hoped he was having a dreamless sleep.

\----------

“Coran?”

“Yes, Hunk?”

“I think I know what went wrong with the cryopod.” Hunk had pulled Coran into the hall for this, and away from the door, not wanting anyone else to hear. “But I don’t know if Shiro should know since he doesn’t remember.”

“What do you mean?” Coran put a hand on Hunk’s shoulder. “I’m sure Shiro wants to know everything possible about what he’s forgotten.”

Hunk met Coran’s kind dark eyes and forces himself not to burst into tears. “I’m not so sure. Coran they- they showed me things. I don’t wanna…. Don’t wanna talk about it but…” He breathed in sharply, trying to gather the strength to say what he had to.

“Hey, Paladin, it’s okay. Talk when you’re ready. I’m here to support you. You don’t have to say it now.” Coran said carefully, digging in his pocket for a square of cloth to hand to Hunk.

“No, I have to. I don’t think Shiro can use the cryopods again. Ever.” Hunk breathed in deeply. “If there isn’t a more obvious injury to deal with, it will… I mean, I think it will detect that….” Hunk knuckled his forehead, frustrated. Tears leaked from his eyes.

“Hunk?”

“You have to know. We need to protect him from this happening again.”

“What do you want me to know, Hunk? Coran prompted calmly, hoping that saying the words might help at least relieve Hunk’s stress.

“They cut Shiro open. They pulled things out. I… I think maybe they didn’t put them in right. Or… left some things out.” Hunk dry heaved, but hadn’t eaten enough recently to be messily sick. 

Coran hadn’t been so lucky, but forced his lunch to stay down. “Hunk, I… that’s awful. I can’t believe they forced you to watch that. That they could… do that…”

Hunk burst into tears and Coran gathered him in his arms, rubbing his back reassuringly. “There, there. It will be okay.” Coran blinked back his own tears. A race that could do this to a poor apelike mystery alien appearing out of nowhere… what could it have done to people he’d known when the Alteans were losing their war? His friends, his family, they had fought the Galra with all their hearts, and they’d died. And he couldn’t bear the thought of what might have been done to them first.

“Somehow, it will be okay, Hunk.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for your comments on this fic guys - they've all made me really happy! I hope you enjoyed this story and you stick around to see where else this series goes - we have a whole lot more in store for y'all!


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